You should check to see if you have a dead cylinder. To do that, set the
idle just above where it wont stumble and stall. Then pull and put back the
spark plug wires one at a time. If the engine DOESN'T slow down or stall
when you pull a wire, you have found a dead cylinder. The problem could be a
bad spark plug, valve, carburetor, or something more sinister.

"Chuck" wrote in message
news:gIfFk.370026$yE1.115548@attbi_s21...

wrote in message
...
On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:51:40 GMT, "Chuck" wrote:

1000 RPM seems a bit high for an idle speed.

Hmmmmmm........ it seemed right at the time. What is an acceptable idles
speed for a four stroke outboard?

I don't think we ever established whether this was electronic fuel
injection but if so, it sounds like you have advanced the throttle
plate far enough to bypass the idle circuit.
1000 is about 250 too high and will be tough on the gears in the
lower end.

Its triple carbureted. I didn't see anything written on the case but I
think its about a 50hp and a 2003 model year. Top end when running it
home was only 4200rpm wide open. Anyway we got it moved and all is well.